Main results
PSCI 2270 - Week 10
Department of Political Science, Vanderbilt University
October 31, 2024
Censorship in China
Attitudes towards immigrants
Campaign contributions and access
What is the research hypothesis?
What are the experimental conditions?
Who (or what) are the subjects?
How are the subjects assigned to treatment(s)?
In what context does the experiment take place?
How are outcomes measured?
How do researchers estimate average treatment effect?
Are there any threats to inference? Think about random assignment, non-interference, excludability, experimenter effects, treatment meaning
Summary:
Why do autocrats want to do censorship?
How can this be achieved with censorship?
Hypothesis: Authors claim that the collective action theory is true but not the theory about positive image of the government.
There was a study conducted before using the observed posts on Chinese social media
Why there could be issues with this study?
What is the treatment in the study? Two separate treatments
Who (or what) are the subjects?
Design: Factorial audit experiment
How did they assign the treatment?
What is the context of the study?
Possible issues?
What are the outcomes they measure?
What are the outcomes they measure?
How do they analyze the data?
Should we be concerned about non-interference? Likely No!
Should we be concerned about experimenter effects? Yes!
Should we be concerned about excludability? Likely No!
Should we be concerned that topics were picked from the pool of observed posts? Not for experimental part!
Any other concerns?
Summary:
There is a perception that Democrats and Republicans vary in terms of their preferences on immigration policy
Alternative theories
What is the treatment in the study? Many separate treatments
Who (or what) are the subjects?
Design: Conjoint experiment
How did they assign the treatment?
What is the context of the study?
Possible issues?
What are the outcomes they measure?
How do they analyze the data?
Should we be concerned about excludability? Likely No!
Should we be concerned about experimenter effects? Yes!
Should we be concerned about non-interference? Yes!
Should we be concerned about many tests that they run? Yes!
Any other concerns?
Summary:
Hypothesis: Campaign contributions increase the likelihood of gaining access to congressional officials.
Why is this important?
What is the treatment in the study? Disclosure of donor status
Who (or what) are the subjects?
Design: Randomized field experiment
How did they assign the treatment?
What is the context of the study?
What are the outcomes they measure?
How do they analyze the data?
Should we be concerned about excludability? Likely No!
Should we be concerned about external validity? Yes!
Should we be concerned about non-interference? Yes!
Any other concerns?